August 2009
Beginner
332 pages
11h 47m
English
Content preview from Netbooks: The Missing ManualBecome an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Chapter 3. Getting to Know Your Linux Netbook
If you’re stopping by this chapter, you probably just bought a Linux-based netbook—or you’re weighing the purchase of one against a Windows XP model. This chapter will give you an overview of Ubuntu Linux, an open-source operating system, which means that everyone is free to edit its code and potentially make it better. Linux was one of the first systems to join the netbook party.
Linux started out as one man’s hobby and has grown into a robust modern operating system, complete with its own Windows-like interface. And it’s an ideal system for a netbook. Thanks to the efforts of thousands of volunteers, corporate backing, and brilliant programmers writing (mostly free) software for it, Linux lets you do all the standard computing tasks: email, Web browsing, instant messaging, word processing, games, and so on.
Later, you’ll learn about the software you can run on your Linux netbook. This chapter is a guided tour of the Linux system itself: how to get started with it and where to find stuff. So grab your netbook to see how Linux looks and works.
Which Type of Linux?
Unlike Windows and Mac OS X (which are created, updated, and sold exclusively by either Microsoft or Apple), Linux is available from many different sources. Linux is an open-source program—crafted, improved, and spun off in its early years by an army of volunteers in a software version of an Amish barn-raising. These days, big companies like Oracle and IBM are developing Linux ...
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.